local chapter of the NAACP felt they had an excellent test case to challenge Montgomery ’ s segregated bus policy . But then it was revealed that she was pregnant and civil rights leaders feared this would scandalize the deeply religious black community and make Colvin ( and , thus the group ’ s efforts ) less credible in the eyes of sympathetic whites .
On December 1 , 1955 , they got another chance to make their case . That evening , 42-year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home from an exhausting day at work . She sat in the first row of the “ colored ” section in the middle of the bus . As the bus traveled its route , all the seats it the white section filled up , then several more white passengers boarded the bus . The bus driver noted that there were several white men standing and demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats . Three other African American passengers reluctantly gave up their places , but Parks remained seated . The driver asked her again to give up her seat and again she refused . Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code . At her trial a week later , in a 30-minute hearing , Parks was found guilty and fined $ 10 and assessed $ 4 court fee .
On the night that Rosa Parks was arrested , E . D . Nixon , head of the local NAACP chapter met with Martin Luther King Jr . and other local civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott . King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young , well-trained with solid family connections and had professional standing . But he was also new to the community and had few enemies , so it was felt he would have strong credibility with the black community .
In his first speech as the group ’ s president , King declared , “ We have no alternative but to protest . For many years we have shown an amazing patience . We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated . But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice .”
Martin Luther King Jr .’ s fresh and skillful rhetoric put a new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama . The bus boycott would be 382 days of walking to work , harassment , violence and intimidation for the Montgomery ’ s African-American community . Both King ’ s and E . D . Nixon ’ s homes were attacked . But the African-American community also took legal action against the city ordinance arguing that it was unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court ’ s “ separate is never equal ” decision in Brown v . Board of Education . After being defeated in several lower court rulings and suffering large financial losses , the city of Montgomery lifted the law mandating segregated public transportation .
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Flush with victory , African-American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their efforts . In January 1957 , Martin Luther King Jr ., Ralph Abernathy , and 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches . They would help conduct non-violent protests to promote civil rights reform . King ’ s participation in the
14 December Edition